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Wholesome Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

Madhuram — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:22:18 +0000

I found this recipe for wholesome breakfast cookies in the book One Smart Cookie by Julie Van Rosendaal. I have made a couple of changes to make it even more healthy and was floored by the taste. I really can’t believe that healthy can taste so good. So if you have kids who drive you crazy without having breakfast, then this recipe is for you. These breakfast cookies are packed with proteins, fiber, vitamins and minerals and low in fat too. What better way to start a day than this? With a glass of milk or orange juice it’s sure to fill up even adults.

Ingredients

Quick Cooking Oats 2 cups

Whole Wheat Pastry Flour 1 cup

Baking Powder 1 teaspoon

Baking Soda 1 teaspoon

Cinnamon (optional) a pinch

Salt a pinch

Navy Beans, rinsed and drained 1 can (19oz/540ml)

Soft Tub Margarine 4 tablespoons

Brown Sugar, packed (I used light) 1 cup

Unsweetened Applesauce, measured in a dry measuring cup 1/4 cup

Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoons

Peanut Butter Chips 1/2 cup

Dried Cranberries 1/2 cup

Walnuts, chopped 1/2 cup

Flax Seed Meal 2 tablespoons

Yield: 24 cookies

Procedure1 Preheat the oven to 350F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

1 Pulse the oats in a food processor until it resembles coarse flour. To this also add the whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and process until combined. Transfer this mix to a large mixing bowl.

2 Put the drained and rinsed beans in the food processor and pulse until smoothly pureed. You may add 2-3 tablespoons of water to make it easier. Add the butter/margarine and process until well blended.

3 Now add the brown sugar, applesauce and vanilla and pulse until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl.

4 Pour the bean mixture into the oat mixture and stir using a spatula. Add the peanut butter chips/chocolate chips, raisins/dried cranberries, nuts and flax seed meal and stir until blended.

5 Drop by large spoonfuls of dough onto the prepared cookie sheets. Flatten each one a little with your hand. Have a bowl of water nearby to dampen your palms, so that flattening the cookies will be easy.

6 Bake for 14-16 minutes, until pale around the edges but still soft in the middle. The cookies baked in a dark coated cookie sheet started browning after 14 minutes itself but the pale coated cookie sheet was done after 16 minutes.

7 Place the the cookie sheets on individual wire racks. Let it cool for 5 minutes. Transfer the cookies to the cooling rack after that.

Taste These cookies tasted very much like the Fiber One Cereal breakfast cookies I have baked earlier. These are very soft cookies, more like a muffin. The presence of whole grain flours like whole wheat pastry flour and oat flour did not affect the taste at all. You cannot detect the navy beans too. It’s not very sweet also. If “healthy” tastes so good, I’m ready to eat healthy always. My son takes it to school as a treat after having his lunch and he likes it so much.

My Notes1 You can use all purpose flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour, white beans instead of navy beans, butter or margarine, chocolate chips instead of peanut butter chips, raisins, pecans instead of walnuts.

2 For chocolate flavored cookies use 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder instead of the flour.

3 Updated: I stored these cookies in a cookie jar over the counter and it became very soft. This is okay if you are going to consume it within 2-3 days. The longer it stays on the counter the softer it gets. Recently I borrowed Moosewood Restaurant Low Fat Favorites from the library and found a tip for storing low-fat cookies. It says that the best way to store low-fat cookies is in layers separated by wax paper or plastic wrap in an airtight container in the freezer. Defrost at room temperature for about 20 minutes before serving. But I think storing in the refrigerator should be fine because it gives instant gratification

These breakfast cookies go to my Wholegrain Baking Event – Oats hosted by me.

Colorful Lemon Pepper Pasta – A Diet Food

Madhuram — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:14:57 +0000

(Click on the image to see a bigger view)

Recently we had been to Olive Garden for the first time. I think they should rename it as “Salt Garden” instead. Right from the appetizer bread sticks to the main entree, every dish was very very salty. Even though I have to agree that we as a family have restricted our intake of salt and chillies/spicy stuff, the amount of salt used by the restaurant was way too high. The bread sticks, minestrone soup and the salad had the highest sodium content. When enquired the waitress about this, she told us that this is how it’s prepared everyday and it made us feel like we were from a strange planet. It really made us wonder if the average American is eating so much salt? But on the good side, the prices were definitely reasonable. With so much awareness about health in general and specific issues too, I cannot understand why they would use so much salt?

I don’t think that we will be going there again anytime soon for 2 reasons. a) it’s too far away from our place and b) we don’t want to consume so much salt. So in the meantime to satisfy my husband’s “pasta cravings”, I have to find pasta recipes which are easy to prepare, tasty and healthy as well. On the mission, I borrowed Betty Crocker’s Easy Everyday Vegetarian book from the library. This “Lemon Pepper Pasta” recipe caught my eye because it used very less ingredients and no cheese at all.

Since Divya’s Diet Foods event came to my mind, I decided to make it even more healthy by using whole wheat pasta instead of regular pasta and also reduced the amount of oil mentioned in the original recipe. Whole wheat pasta, asparagus and navy beans are rich in fiber, so we felt full very soon, ended up eating less. This dish is also protein rich, which again is key, when it comes to “diet food”. Whole wheat pasta does taste good, nothing like I dreaded and we also didn’t miss the cheese.

Ingredients

Penne pasta, uncooked – 2 cups (I used Nature’s Promise Organic Whole Wheat Penne)

Olive oil/vegetable oil – 2 tablespoons (1/4 cup of oil mentioned in the original recipe)

Orange bell pepper, medium – 1, chopped (red pepper used in the original recipe)

Asparagus – 1 pound, cut into 1 inch pieces

Salt and Pepper – as needed

Mrs Dash sodium free Lemon Pepper Seasoning – as needed (See My Notes)

Lemon juice

Navy Beans – 1 can (15 to 16oz) drained and rinsed

Step-by-Step Procedure 1. Cook and drain pasta as directed on package.

2. Meanwhile in a skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat.

3. Add bell pepper, asparagus, lemon pepper, salt; cook, stirring occasionally until vegetables are crisp-tender.

4. Stir in lemon juice and beans. Cook until beans are hot.

5. Add pasta; toss with vegetable mixture.

My Notes 1. If you have doubts about using whole wheat pasta, you can start with 1 cup of regular pasta and 1 cup of whole wheat pasta. Then slowly try increasing the ratio and in no time you would prefer only whole wheat pasta.

2. Grated lemon zest was used in the original recipe. Since I had the lemon pepper seasoning, I used it instead. So you can simply use a combination of salt, pepper and lemon juice to suit your taste.

3. I would also suggest using any other hard beans instead of navy beans. Navy beans are very soft and it becomes mushy when you toss the pasta a couple of times. I think either Kidney beans or Chickpeas would be perfect.

Garden Vegetables And Navy Beans Vegan Soup – Your Recipe Rocks

Madhuram — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:48:37 +0000

As most of you know, throughout last week I was worried about my mom’s safe journey to US and now that she has arrived I’m a little busy, so I have not been able to visit all your blogs or reply individually to all your lovely comemnts. So please excuse me, I’ll catch up with you guys very soon!

This week I tried RedChillies’ pasta and beans soup. The soup is very simple to make but has a lot of flavors going in from the peppers, celery, garlic and oregano. I didn’t have mini peppers, so used a combination of regular size red pepper, yellow pepper and green pepper. I also used extra 3 cups of vegetable broth. (Look “My Notes”) Thank you for the recipe RedChillies.

My Notes:
I always prepare my pasta and beans soup directly in a pressure cooker. I don’t cook the pasta separately. I add all the ingredients for the soup, including the pasta and extra water or vegetable broth as required and leave it for 1 whistle and turn off the stove. The pasta is cooked to perfection and also has the flavor of all the vegetables, tomatoes and herbs because it is cooked with it instead of plain salted water.

Since I made the soup in a pressure cooker directly, I’m sending this to Archana’s One Dish Meal Event. The cooking time is approximately 30-45 minutes inculding prep time and the measurement yields 4-5 servings easily.

JZ at Tasty Treats has passed me the Rocking Girl Blogger Award.

Thank you very much JZ. I would like to pass this award to
RedChillies
Roma